Corsair Dominator GTX2 PC3-18000 CL8 Memory Review

Corsair Dominator GTX2 PC3-18000 CL8 Memory Review

The snow has recently fallen here on the toilet bowl that is south western Ontario. So while it may have finally turned into winter outside; inside things are just starting to heat up. Well, not so much in a literal sense since the Dominator heat sinks are keeping things cool. But rest assured, the performance and frequencies coming from these Corsair Dominator GTX2 modules are sure to get the blood boiling. Today we look to tame the slow cold pace of a winter's storm with some high clocks, tight timings, and everything in-between.

It is no secret that Corsair has been pushing the memory envelope since their popular Dominator line of memory debuted during the DDR2 frequency peak. The Dominator name was upgraded with a very strong GT acronym when we looked at the PC3-15000 Dominator GT last winter which was almost a year ago already. Since then, the Dominator GT line has seen some updates with modules reaching the lofty clocks of DDR3-2000 at timings as tight as 7-8-7. Of course, Corsair hasn't stopped there going completely overboard introducing the GTX1 and GTX2 DDR3 modules.

The CMGTX1 memory is designed for P55 platforms running up to DDR3-2400 at timings of 9-11-9. The CMGTX2 modules are specified for operation on either P55 or X58 platforms at DDR3-2250 8-8-8, and AMD 790FX platforms at DDR3-1900 6-6-6. Needless to say, both modules are the highest clocked DDR3 sticks Corsair offers for either P55, X58, or AMD platforms. Today we will be looking at the Corsair Dominator GTX2 modules. But unlike memory reviews of past, we will be taking the overclocker's express route with these sticks focusing primarily on overclocking and all but ignoring stability testing. This CMGTX2 memory is built for benchmarking, not running Prime95 or LinX...so we are simply going to do what it is designed for today.